1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to synchronous integrated circuits. More specifically, the present invention relates to integrated circuits synchronized on signals provided by pulse generators.
2. Discussion of the Related Art
Integrated circuits comprising data transmission lines can be synchronized in several ways. For example, flip-flops comprising two registers synchronized on a clock signal and its complement may be used. A single register synchronized on a signal provided by a pulse generator may also be used. The present application relates to this last type of integrated circuits. An example of a circuit of this type is described in IEEE ISSCC96, 0-7803-3136-2, FA 8.6, entitled “A 100 MHz, 0.4 W RISC Processor with 200 MHz Multiply-Adder, using Pulse-Register Technique” by Shinichi Kozu et al.
It would be desirable to have a pulse generator enabling making registers synchronized on the signal provided by the generator transparent, to decrease the integrated circuit power consumption.
It would also be desirable to have a pulse generator enabling blocking the output states of the registers synchronized on the signal provided by the generator at a given time.
Further, a disadvantage of known circuits exploiting the technique of registers synchronized on pulses is that the associated pulse generator suffers from a lack of reliability. In particular, it is likely to generate parasitic pulses.